Tips for landing an internship

You dream of working for a big Silicon Valley tech company or for a hip San Francisco start-up. But before you can land your ideal job, you must land the right internship. After all, new grads with an internship under their belt have an easier time seizing that first job. There are countless internship websites and career center tools out there, though, so searching for an internship can feel overwhelming.

Here are two internship websites that not only offer postings from great companies, but also offer superb career tools.

Internships.comInternships.com is a lot more than a database of listings — it’s a comprehensive community of resources. The website makes it easy to search internships by major, location, company, and industry. It also features Internship Basics, a blog with intern stories, and a section dedicated to tips for better interviewing. By registering with the site, you can take advantage of all of the tools the website offers.

One of the best tools available to registered users is the profile option that allows potential employers to find you. Lastly, the website categorizes each internship opportunity as paid, unpaid, or for course credit.

InternMatch.com
Like the previous resource, InternMatch.com lists opportunities and showcases an array of career tools. The most valuable to students being the easy to use resume and cover letter creation wizards. Another cool feature is the ability to see how many candidates have applied for a specific opportunity. The website is packed with resources and lists internships with corporations as well as with non-profits.

The human touch
While every student should take advantage of these free web tools, it’s just as important to get a person to review resumes and cover letters. Ideally, students will contact the career center at their schools to get a second opinion. It’s also a good idea to have the career counselor at your college or university give you a mock interview. Practice interviews help calm the nerves and will better prepare you to meet with potential employers.

Belo Cipriani is an award-winning author, former staffing professional, a spokesperson for Guide Dogs for the Blind and the Writer-in-Residence at Holy Names University. Learn more at BeloCipriani.com.